If passed, Michigan would tax cannabis at retail levels with a 10 percent excise tax and six percent sales tax, which would support K-12 public schools, roads, and local governments

By Michael Bachara
Hemp News

Last month, the Michigan Board of Canvassers approved a petition for a state ballot initiative that would regulate marijuana. If approved by voters, Michigan would legalize personal possession, cultivation, and use of cannabis for adults 21 and older, legalize the cultivation of industrial hemp, license cannabis businesses that cultivate, process, test, transport, and sell marijuana, and protect consumers with proper testing and safety regulations for retail cannabis.

In 2016, the Michigan State Board of Canvassers disqualified MI Legalize, the group that collected 354,000 signatures in support of legalization, on a technicality.

Attorney Jeff Hank, the Executive Director of MI Legalize, believes the retail cannabis industry will create thousands of jobs and boost Michigan’s economy. “Those jobs will then help reinvigorate our local communities, and the tax revenue from this proposal will go into fixing schools and funding roads and bridges and going back to counties and local governments, which everybody acknowledges are hurting,” Hank explained.

The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (CRMLA), the group managing the campaign, will be including spearheading the paid petition circulation being done by National Petition Management (NPM). If you are interested in supporting the campaign or being paid to circulate petitions this summer, please contact NPM directly at npm1450@outlook.com for more details about how to help. Sign up to volunteer for the signature collection effort at RegulateMI.

The coalition needs collect just over 250,000 valid signatures needed to place the issue on the November 2018 ballot.